Prepare yourselves for a new-and-improved Teddy! Are you excited for the show to finally return?

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from MTV, it’s that spring break is best spent hooking up in Mexico — and that’s exactly what our boy Teddy (Trevor Donovan) will be doing April 18 on 90210when he bumps into an old friend, Tripp Wallison (Alan Ritchson.) But before you write Teddy and Tripp off as just another spring break fling, hear this: Alan tells HollywoodLife.com that Tripp will play a major role in Teddy’s quest for self-acceptance.

“Tripp knows himself better than Teddy does, and he’s OK with who he is,” Alan explains. “He understands what it means to be gay or bi or whatever, and that surety about himself sparks something in Teddy. That’s something he lacks at this point. He’s unsure. It’s still unfamiliar territory. Tripp’s the kind of guy who makes it very easy for him. You are who you are. It’s going to give him a nice push.”

That ‘nice push’ will definitely come in handy when Teddy returns to West Bev and rekindles his romance with Marco (Freddie Smith.) And just as Teddy and Tripp have been friends for years, Alan tells us he and Teddy go way back.

“We’ve been friends for a long time,” Alan tells us. “We met years ago in LA. So sitting on set, we’d be talking about skiing or whatever, then it’s like ‘Action!’ and we start making out.”

In case this one hour with Alan isn’t enough for you, be sure to catch him as football star Thad Castle on SpikeTV’s Blue Mountain State, which was just picked up for a third season!

“The third season is kind of a return to our core group,” he teases. “It’ll definitely give the fans what they really love.”